1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a body fat measuring device for measuring the body fat of an animal using a plurality of measuring means which are successively put into operation by switching therebetween.
2. Prior Art
There has been developed a body fat measuring device for an animal using noninvasive impedance measurement in which a dog is suspended by a fixing tool in such manner that the dog is restricted in posture while standing on all four limbs, but spaced away from the floor. A measurement person wears a set of gloves on both hands each having an impedance measurement electrode affixed on the palm portion thereof, and grasps the front and rear limbs of the dog at the specific positions so that the electrodes on the gloves are contact therewith for measuring the impedance between the specific positions on the front and rear limbs of the dog. Then, the body fat of the dog is calculated based on the impedance measured (see Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-144005.
However, the body fat measuring device in the prior art using impedance measurement, as described above, is defective in that because of necessity of grasping the limbs of the animal at the specific positions the measurement person needs to have some expert knowledge about bone and muscle structure of the animal. As the result, there was such tendency that the electrodes are likely to be shifted in position to produce an erroneous measurement depending on the manner that the limbs are grasped. In addition, it was sometimes difficult to conduct the measurement due to effect of body hair of the animal on the contact point with the electrode, violent action of the animal, etc.
In view of the above an object of the present invention is to provide a body fat measuring device for measuring the body fat of an animal under test using the most suitable measuring means for the animal under test selected from among a plurality of measuring means by switching therebetween depending on behavior of the animal under test and contact condition of electrodes.